


Post Vita

by TheFamousFireLadyM



Series: Something In Common [4]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Flashbacks, Headcanon, Irony, M/M, Sad Ending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-16
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-11-14 16:40:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11212035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFamousFireLadyM/pseuds/TheFamousFireLadyM
Summary: A semi-prequel to Something In Common, set in the same universe.Kellogg has many regrets. What he did to Shaun, sadly, wasn't one of them.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> um tw: terminal illness

"Mr. Kellogg." He appeared in the doorway, every inch of him pristine and pressed. He hated the way it made Shaun look.

He stood up straighter, noting the tired look on his face.

Shaun beckoned him into his bedroom. "I'd like to speak to you alone if you don't mind."

Kellogg shifted where he stood, watching Shaun sit wearily on his perfectly made bed. "Alright, shoot. What is it?"

"Promise me you'll keep this quiet."

"Yeah, shit. Just tell me."

"I've end stage lung cancer. I'm taking a treatment for it now, but it hasn't been responding as well as it could be."

He blinked, heart clenching somewhere cold in his chest. Kellogg took a breath and held it, words coming out standoffish. "You're dying. And then what? Some stuck up asshole will take over for you?" He snapped, turning from him.

"I wanted you to know. You're the first person I told."

Kellogg scoffed, turning toward the door. "Let me guess, because you don't want this to end on a sour note. You don't want _us_  to be full of maybes and could have beens."

He drew himself up bigger. "I don't want to hear it. You told me yourself, what was it, twenty years ago. You hate me, and you never wanted to see me again." Kellogg paused and took a step to the door.

"Please. Don't do this."

That got him to stop, inches from the door. "Begging isn't a virtue i thought I'd ever hear from you."

"I know you want to leave, and I won't stop you, but not yet."

He slowly turned, and Shaun had his hands in his lap, clenched into tight fists.

"Why, then. What purpose could telling me possibly serve? I can't stop it from happening. I can't kill cancer."

Shaun frowned, swallowing hard. Even so, his voice was strained. "I know."

"Are you expecting pity; for me to tell you I'm sorry?" Kellogg took a step toward him, and Shaun didn't blink. "I'm not sorry, I'm not going to pity you just because that's what you want me to do."

"Then don't. I don't deserve your pity."

All the air rushed out of Kellogg's lungs like a punch in the gut and he took another step, this time shaky.

Shaun worked his mouth deliberately, trying to find the right words to say. It was the first time the mercenary had ever seen him at a loss for words. It hurt, somehow, seeing him no longer succinct, no longer _himself_.

He came to sit beside him, knees bumping Shaun's bent legs.

Shaun averted his gaze. Kellogg stared, expression for once unguarded and concerned. His gloved hand skirted up the side of Shaun's face, ragged fingertips scratching through his beard.

He sighed and Shaun's gaze shot to his face.

"I should have took your damn advice. Should have cut my losses and ran a long time ago." He let his other hand drop to the old man’s knee, and Shaun covered it with his own hand. Kellogg pretended not to notice. Shaun’s head tilted to the side as the mercenary’s hand skated along the line of his jaw, thumb pausing at the corner of Shaun’s mouth. There was a pause, utter silence between them. He could have sworn the old man was holding his breath.

“Shit, I can't believe how old you got." He murmured, thumb sliding along the very edge of his lip.

“Do you remember--"    


"Yes, I do. I remember everything. I--" Shaun bit back the words he wanted to say, instead pressing forward.     


The mercenary caught his mouth with his own, and Shaun tilted his head to the side, hand coming up to rest delicately on Kellogg's jaw. It was after a moment he pulled back, eyes closed. "I should have left years ago."    


Shaun started to laugh, a bitter cold sound, but it quickly turned into a coughing fit. He covered his mouth and for the first time in his life he could see fear on Kellogg's face.    


He pulled back almost immediately and with a blink the look was gone. The way Kellogg monitored his emotions was aggravating in a way Shaun had no patience for.

The old man looked at him, and held his gaze for a moment that felt like a short eternity. Kellogg cleared his throat and broke the trance first, eyes falling away.

"Should be going. Got a date with your mother sometime soon." Kellogg stopped, giving his leg a gentle squeeze and a pat. His gaze was distant. He didn't do goodbyes. "I'll.. see you when I see you again."

Shaun didn't answer, considering how he had said _when_ , not _if_ , as if he was sure some time they would meet up in the future. He knew Kellogg wouldn't survive this, and was only pulling the stoic act for his own sake. They both knew it.   


He went to the door and stopped. The merc opened his mouth to say something but found pause, thinking better of it. "Hope you got what you wanted."

He was just glad he wouldn't have to watch the old man die.

Shaun watched him go, glad in a way Kellogg wouldn't live to see him replaced with someone new.

* * *

 

There she stood, his death sentence. And she brought the synth. Funny, just looking at him made him think of the old man. They carried themselves the exact same way. He turned toward her, facing his own extinction with a smile.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> italicised text is flashback

He could remember it like it was yesterday.

_"Mr. Kellogg. You were married once, weren't you?" He looked up at him._

_"Watch out, kid, you're stepping into some dangerous territory with questions like this." Kellogg stretched his arm, letting it settle against the top of the couch where Shaun was slumped beside him._

_"What is it like, kissing someone?" He asked after some consideration. "I've never -- well, there's no one down here to --"_

_Kellogg looked him over before curling a hand casually just under his jaw and lifting his face to his mouth. Shaun gasped in surprise, before urgently reciprocating. "If you wanted to kiss me you could have just asked."_

_The young man lifted a hand to his chest and held his place. "And if you were to say no?"_

_Kellogg snorted. "Well, I'm clearly okay with it here."_

_Shaun closed his mouth. The silence prompted the mercenary to lift his chin and kiss him again. "That's not a problem, is it? Your old man not gonna flip out at you for kissing someone like me?"_

_"Doesn't matter." Shaun crossed his legs, regarding him with a quick glance up and down._

_"I'd say it does." Kellogg let go of his chin, and Shaun huffed, sitting back. "Still on the company payroll, and I'm not in the mood for getting chewed out because some sixteen year old has a crush on me."_

_"I'm **seventeen** , and my birthday is coming up anyway." _

_"I'm sure you can wait til then." Kellogg cracked a crooked grin his way. "Come find me when you're eighteen and whatever you want, I'll do."_

_"Anything I want?"_

_"Within reason, kid._

* * *

 

_He sauntered over to the mercenary, leaning against the wall. Kellogg didn't look up, rolling up his sleeve over the patch of gauze where the doctor had stuck a needle. "What are you so happy about?"_

_"Guess what today is?"_

_Kellogg sat back, wracking his brain to try and answer. "I don't know. Tuesday."_

_"I'll give you a hint: it starts with b and ends in day."_

_Kellogg pretended to mull it over, noticing how antsy the teen looked._

_His closeness was suffocating,_ Kellogg recalled, _fingertips trawling like spiders up the sides of his face as Shaun let out a desperate cry, all but overwhelmed by everything. There was wetness tracked down the line of his throat and Kellogg sunk his teeth into the tender flesh that pulled taut when he jerked his head back. The teen grasped blindly for something to hold onto without success, and came with a sound like a sob, much, much too quickly. Kellogg flipped him onto his stomach, grabbing his chest and just pounding into him without cease. The teen let out a choked sound, head bowed, as the mercenary squeezed him around, forearm tightening around his waist._

_He was pushing back against the immovable force that was Kellogg, hips caught in his grip like a vice. The merc let out a low groan behind his ear,  and Shaun bucked his hips again as he pulled out, wet heat splattering the teen's back._

_He collapsed, panting. The merc cast a quick amused look his way. "Not too sore, are you?"_

_"N-no, I'm... I'm good." He breathed, in a daze._

_Kellogg let out a low vulgar sounding chuckle and smoothed a rough hand along the bare planes of the teen's chest, up to the clear cut bite mark on his throat. He knew he'd get a major tongue lashing from the old man but he really didn't give a shit._

_Shaun was sated, exhausted beside him. "Happy birthday, kid." The mercenary had an arm comfortably behind his head as he turned to look at him, lifting his cigar to his mouth._

_He didn't mention it the next day, or the day after, or the next, until Kellogg all but forgot about it. He had lapsed back into the old routine, and Shaun had nothing to do with that._ He never really did forget though. He didn’t think he had that capability anymore, that particular weakness.

* * *

 _You killed him."_ He could hear it still echoing in his head.

 _"What does it matter, you never knew the damn man." Kellogg replied, coarsely. On the defensive, he scoffed when Shaun frowned deeper. "He wasn't your dad."_ _  
_

_He stiffened, and Kellogg wondered if he'd read his own medical file. The merc cleared his throat and clarified, just in case he hadn't: "The man didn't raise you, kid."_ _  
_

_Shaun let his hand drop. "I know." He paused, turning to look from him. "You killed my father, Mr. Kellogg. You **killed** him." _ _  
_

_"Yeah. I've done in a lot of people. Don't make it personal."_ _  
_

_"_ _Don't make it personal'?" Shaun stared, brow furrowed. "You shot him point blank in the face and snatched me up like - like some kind of **prize**." _ _  
_

_"Yeah." Kellogg breathed, running a hand over his jaw. "Who the fuck do you think sent me to do it?"_

_Shaun's expression turned sour and he fell silent. When he spoke again his voice was even, harsh in its impersonal manner. "You're truly nothing but a monster, Mr. Kellogg."_

_Somewhere he knew Shaun would never forgive him. Kellogg knew it was pretty much a death sentence then and there. He knew Shaun was planning his death in his head to the very nanosecond._

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

_ “This concerns the Winter file; studying the effects of radiation on cell regeneration and life extending capabilities.” Shaun spoke into the voice recorder, his pen tapping his lower lip absently. “I just wish I could study it all up close.”  _

_ His fingers on the keyboard clacked quietly, covering up the sound of footsteps as Kellogg approached.  _

_ He lingered in the door frame, leaning on it nonchalantly.  _

_ “Find anything interesting, kid?”  _

_ Shaun jumped out of his seat, clicking the recorder off. “Mr. Kellogg! Would you be willing to go under observation for a thesis I'm on the verge of proving?”  _

_ “What the hell are you talking about?”  _

_ “Radiation. The way it affects cells. If you reach a certain equilibrium, it can arrest the speed of aging. This is what I've been looking to prove.” He was speaking in pieces of sentences, fractured and not making sense.  _

_ “You know there are things called ghouls up top; with their brains all rotted out because of radiation.” Kellogg replied, sickened at the prospect. “Sure, they're from before the war but it's not worth the effort if they can't talk.”  _

_ “No, no. There's this man I've been… corresponding with, over the radio. He's pre-war, mr. Kellogg. His aging has been halted by radiation, and he isn't losing his mind to it the way you say these ghouls do.”  _

_ Kellogg scoffed, crossing his arms. “This sounds like bullshit.”  _

_ “No, he explained the method. Most of the calculations were lost, but I did some digging and found record of what he said happened. He went under an experimental amount of radiation and it entirely halted the process of aging.”  _

_ “And burning him to jerky in the process?” Kellogg ventured. “How do you know this guy isn't a ghoul?”  _

_ He fell silent.  _

_ “I'm not doing it, kid. You find someone else to test this shit on.”  _

_ Shaun frowned, looking determined as he kept typing. _

* * *

 

Shaun heard a weary voice from the doorway.

“When I heard you were dying, I didn't think you'd take it without a fight. Had to see you one last time. You look like shit, kid, but I'm sure you already knew that.” 

“Mr. Kellogg!” He sounded surprised to see him, and the words that eked from his dry lips hurt. “I thought you were dead…”

“Your mother can't keep me down.” 

“My mother is acting head of the Institute.” Shaun answered. 

“I heard. Who do you think patched me up? Mommy dearest needed a new watchdog for her big plans.” 

Shaun grimaced. “Why are you back? Here to rub it in? You got your second chance.” 

“Already said i had to see you, remember? I’m just visiting an old frenemy. C'mon, like you don't know. I saw it all. Your file, everything.” 

Shaun straightened up and sighed, lifting his red gaze to Kellogg’s face. “You're here to discuss my parentage?” He asked, confused. 

“That too, or something like it.” He cocked his hip to the side. 

“It doesn't matter anymore. My mother is still my mother no matter our blood relation, and you killed my father years ago.” That old wound still ached him some, Kellogg assumed. 

“Actually,” Kellogg responded, “Killed your dad twice, kid. The first time barely put up a fight, frozen like a popsicle. Second time the bastard didn't even  _ know _ . Your dad was an awful fucking man and he deserved every burning bullet that scored through his irradiated ass. You remind me of him. Same casual disregard for everything that makes someone human. Same fucking way you destroyed everything. Your real dad never even knew you were born, and he wouldn't have cared anyway. You weren't even a blip on his damn radar.”

Shaun's expression was impassive. He guessed the old man didn't know that. 

“You know what it felt like, pulling the trigger? Felt  _ good _ , felt like it was something that should have been done a long time ago.” Kellogg continued. “Your parents were still around, right under your goddamn nose. You were too high and mighty to do some digging and find them. One of your parents even got a fresh fucking start in the institute.” Kellogg let out a mirthless laugh. “Did you know that? You built him up from scrap, tossed an old pre-war ai in there.  _ His _ old pre-war mind.” 

Shaun let him go on about it, his gaze resting on his hands. “That was before me. Years and years before my time.” 

“You saw him. Diamond City ringing any bells?” 

Shaun's eyes shot up to his. “My father lived in Diamond City? And you killed him there?” 

He held up his hand. “Your dad sealed himself off in some shitty little bunker, stewing in radiation for years.” 

“I…” He paused, putting it together. “How long had you known this?” 

“Dear Mother told me all this when she put me back together.” 

Not long at all then. “Then my biological mother was who?” 

Kellogg considered it for a second. “I don't think he'd appreciate being called your mother, but he's still alive.” 

He exhaled painfully, shoulders falling. “‘He’, then. And  _ he _ lives in Diamond City then?” 

“You've spotted him before, with your spy cameras and your double agents.” Kellogg looked at him. “The only generation two synth in the whole damn city.” 

Shaun's expression twisted into confusion and shock. “That damn detective!”

Kellogg didn't give him an answer but let his hands drop after a loose shrug. 

“I can't believe this.” 


End file.
